Kate Middleton named as phone hacking target

The Duchess of Cambridge was among a string of high profile figures reportedly targeted by a private detective

The Duchess of Cambridge is at the centre of a new hacking scandal, with reports emerging that a tabloid hired a private detective to tap her phone and access her bank accounts.

Catherine's bank details were allegedly hacked in 2005 by Jonathan Rees, who was then working as a private detective commissioned by the Mirror Group and News of the World, The Telegraph reports today.

Her phone was also reportedly tapped throughout 2005 and 2006, the years she was completing university when her relationship with Prince William was subject to intense scrutiny.

Police sources confirmed to the Daily Mail that Kate's phone was targeted on 'an astonishing scale', adding: 'Kate Middleton appears to have been in a league of her own in terms of the amount of hacking attempts made on her mobile phone. She was routinely targeted dozens of times a day and on some occasions this figure would reach three figures.'

Rees was named in the House of Commons yesterday by Tom Watson MP, who claims Scotland Yard has a wealth of evidence that the private investigator targeted a string of high profile figures, but that the information falls outside the scope of its investigation. He called on Metropolitan Police to consider a wider investigation.

Tony Blair, Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex and Jack Straw were also named as alleged victims of Rees' hacking.

The allegations come in the same week that Sienna Miller accepted £100,00 damages from the New of the World and a public apology for hacking her voicemail, which read: 'The information should never have been obtained in the manner it was, the private information should never have been published and (the News of the World) has accepted liability for misuse of private information, breach of confidence and harassment.'

The paper had obtained PIN numbers for nine phones, including three of Miller's, her then boyfriend Jude Law's, their respective assistant's and a close friend, in an attempt to access information about the A-list couple's romance.

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